Historically, fences were generally built to keep animals and people out of an area. Today, agricultural fences keep animals contained and some fences serve both purposes such as the fences that surround prisons. Most early fences were built of materials close at hand such as stones or trees and even dirt.
Wooden fences also allowed a user to attach things or rest things on top of the post. All kinds of things can be attached to the top of a wooden fence post such as a bird houses which could easily be attached to the top of the post using nails or screws. While this may be desirable, installing wooden fence post is quite labor intensive since it generally requires digging a hole and filling it with concrete to make it secure. Metal fence posts are much easier to install and are generally just pounded into the ground; however, it is very difficult to attach anything to the top of them. Often people attempt to attach things by using wire, but it is not easy to provide a secure platform for the attached items.
A common form of metal fence posts are known as T-posts. They are usually pounded into the ground with the fencing material pulled tightly between adjacent posts. While these fence posts work well and are relatively easy to install compared to wooden fence post, once installed they are not very useful to attach other objects to their top portion. There is a need for a method of attaching things to a T-post that preserves the ease of installation of a metal post while allowing secure attachment to its top portion.